Dan Auerbach, foreground, performs with his band The Black Keys at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on May 5. / Gerald Herbert, AP

by Jerry Shriver USA TODAY, USA TODAY

by Jerry Shriver USA TODAY, USA TODAY

NEW ORLEANS - The tradition-bound closing day of the 44th Jazz & Heritage Festival enjoyed a bit of tweaking Sunday as 27-year-old local hero Trombone Shorty Andrews graduated to a closing slot on one stage, while 72-year-old vocal icon Aaron Neville, performing as a solo act for the first time instead of with his brothers, closed out the other main stage. They were preceded by national acts that included the Black Keys, Hall & Oates, Maze and Jeffrey Osborne, as well as beloved icons such as Irma Thomas. Some highlights from the last of seven days, which unfolded under nearly cloudless skies:

Two times for Thomas

New Orleans soul queen Irma Thomas offers a fascinating dichotomy. On Friday, she packed the gospel tent for her annual tribute to New Orleans-born pioneer Mahalia Jackson, blending personal testimony with deeply spiritual sacred music. In recent years, this set has become an absolute must-see at the festival.

On Sunday, she switched styles and stages, letting loose with a powerful set of soul and old-school R&B tunes from her hit-studded past, including You Can Have My Husband (But Please Don't Mess With My Man), and It's Raining, which she said "should be adopted as the city's anthem." She also blended the two approaches somewhat on the gospel-like R&B tune I Done Got Over. She explained the second-line hanky-waving tradition by saying it's a way of celebrating things including "your pregnancy test coming back negative!" That led into a spirited medley of Iko Iko, Hey Pocky Way and back into I Done Got Over.

From Akron to Acura stage

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have promised their eighth studio album is coming later this year, but for now they are wowing festival crowds with crunching versions of their formidable catalog. The duo, backed by a bassist and keyboard player, pulled out Howlin' for You and Next Girl from 2010's breakthrough Brothers album for starters at their Acura stage show, rendering both in a succinct, punchy style. The duo, from Akron, Ohio, but now based in Nashville, favor electrified, sometimes distorted, blues-tinged rock with a minimalist bent, propelled by Auerbach's buzzy guitar and Carney's straightforward precision slamming. Lonely Boy from 2011's El Camino sparked a sing-along on the chorus and Gold on the Ceiling sounded especially filthy - in a good way. The two played alone on several numbers but lost none of their primal punch.

Pop nuggets with a disco edge

With a deep trove of irresistible pop hits to draw from and good looks to boot, all Daryl Hall and John Oates had to do was show up on the Gentilly stage and bask in the adoration. But they did much more, treating familiar songs like Sarah Smile, I Can't Go for That, Rich Girl and Maneater with care and adding some new twists to the arrangements. A sax-led backing band made the sometimes elongated renditions all the more enjoyable. Though Jazz Fest is centered around roots music, there apparently is room here for disco. With the sun beaming down, there was no need for a glitter ball, and the still-soft grounds (from recent rains) made gliding and twisting all that much easier.

And in the end ...

The festival-closing slots on the two main stages are the most coveted gigs in the vast Jazz Fest schedule, and this year saw two breaks with tradition.

On the Gentilly stage, Aaron Neville appeared as a solo act, without his brothers, who performed as The Nevilles without him last week. On Sunday, he did have sax-playing brother Charles as part of his five-piece backing band, and he acted as a bridge to their past. Aaron appeared wearing a dressy white hat and a burgundy suit instead of his trademark biceps-baring T-shirts. His set was a predictable mix of old hits (Tell It Like It Is), Neville Brothers songs (Angola Bound), a bit of gospel (an angelic Amazing Grace) and doo-wop ditties from his new My True Story album (Work With Me Annie). The highlight came with AChange Is Gonna Come, on which Aaron and Charles took Sam Cooke's anthem to an even higher plane.

At the opposite end of the Fair Grounds, Troy "Trombone Shorty'' and his Orleans Avenue band assumed the mantel of festival-closers as if they'd been preparing for it all their lives. Their dozen-song set was a tour de force of bracing rock, James Brown-inspired funk, bombastic brassy jazz and brilliant showmanship. Andrews strode onto the stage holding his trumpet in one hand and his trombone in the other as the dynamic band launched into two long instrumentals, Liar Liar and Suburbia from their 2010 breakthrough album Backatown. The music was insistent and in-your-soul, propelled by rude, spitfire horn blasts, quicksilver guitar, dueling saxophones and wild-abandoned drumming. For his Do to Me finale, Andrews waded into the crowd - a Jazz Fest rarity that only Bruce Springsteen can pull off - and then exited the stage again holding aloft his instruments in triumph. It was a commanding performance that showed that the closing slot is probably his to keep for some time to come.